ubt their story.

"I think," he said, "you must be mistaken. I expect the piece of
cotton blew away, and the foot-marks must have been there before.
I don't see what there is in the shed that should make it worth any
one's while to break into it; besides, if the door was locked, the thief
must have broken it open, and you'd have seen the marks."

Certainly nothing seemed to have been touched, and as no boy complained
of any of his property having been stolen, the subject was allowed to
drop, and the usual excitement connected with the end of term and the
near approach of the holidays soon caused it to be driven from every
one's thoughts and wellnigh forgotten.

With the commencement of the winter term a fresh matter filled the minds
of the Triple Alliance, and gave them plenty of food for discussion and
plan-making. On returning to Chatford after the summer holidays, they
discovered that all three were destined to leave at Christmas and
proceed to Ronleigh College, a large school in the neighbourhood, to
which a good number of Mr. Welsby's former pupils had been transferred
after undergoing a preliminary course of education at The Birches.
Letters from these departed heroes, containing disjointed descriptions
of their new surroundings, awakened a feeling of interest in the doings
of the Ronleigh College boys. The records of their big scores at
cricket, or their victories at football, which appeared in local papers,
were always read with admiration; and the name of an old Birchite
appearing in either of the teams was a thing of which every one felt
justly proud.

"I wish I was going too," said Acton, addressing the three friends;
"but my people are going to send me to a school in Germany. My brother
John is there; he's one of the big chaps, and is captain of the football
team this season. I'm going to get the _Denfordshire Chronicle_ every
week, to see how they get on in the matches."

Early in October the goal-posts were put up in the field, and the
Birchites commenced their football practice. Mr. Blake was a leading
member of the Chatford Town Club, and although six a side was
comparatively a poor business, yet under his instruction they gained a
good grounding in the rudiments of the "soccer" of the period. The old
system of dribbling and headlong rushes was being abandoned in favour of
the passing game, and forwards were learning to keep their places, and
to play as a whole instead of as individuals.

"